Well, in my opinion, it's pretty reasonable to cry about how bad it was.

It started out very promissing, and i had my hopes up for a great drama. Shortly after episode 1, School Days tried to do something beyond it's reach: it could have stayed as a simple, yet depressing drama about a girl's first love, which was an almost guaranteed successful formula (especially considering that the first episode did an awesome job setting that up), but that's not what happened.

The drama slowly changed to tragedy, and Kotonoha developed into a yandere. Since the characters are not likeable (i personally think that part of all that happened was also Kononoha's fault, so it's not like she was totally a victim), and the series was not directed properly, it was very disappointing. Instead of feeling depressed, i felt anger.

It does not help that i watched Ef - a Tale of Memories just before starting School Days (compare, for example, both drama scenes with the cellphone). If you want School Days done in the right way, watch True Tears.

tl;dr
- Episode 1 was very good, then it went downhill.
- The characters were unlikeable.
- The development went in the wrong way.
- Ef - a Tale of Memories did some similar scenes much better.
- True Tears is what School Days could have become if done in the right way.

I agree with this ..

True Tears was a sad show if you ask me but why did you mention true tears out of all the anime's instaed of lets' shuffle ?I only got school days vibes when Ai-chan did that freaky move on Shin .. that was the only school days part for me ..lolll

Ah, it's because i think School Days had potential to be great if it wasn't for all the crazyness that dragged it down. True Tears was for me a good example of how to develop good drama without going overboard (though, like you said, it ALMOST went that way in some parts).

Shuffle! didn't catch my interest for long, so i dropped on episode 12 of the first series. If it's about yanderes, my current favorite is THAT ONE side character in Shigofumi.

In my opinion School days was a good/heavy drama(one of my favourites ) and I must say not everyone is going to like it unless your a fan of those heavy drama shows like KGNE and school days..I agree with you that it went way too far (like the whole blood scene on the floor while raping katanoha)and it was way too preverted on the kissing parts .Not that I have a problem with this but it was too much in my opinion .The characters were all so shameful ,desperate sex addicts .I agree katanoha did this to herself though ..poor Sekai ...

As for true tears -one crazy girl ,one emo girl ,one desperate girl ,what more can you ask for ?It was a good show with realsitic character's .I felt sad for all three girls because of thier situation's .Shin had a hard situation because those three girl were emotionly troubled (includin Ai )and I loved his choice at the end .Some ppl said that true tears is not tragic but I think it's a bit tragic .

Everytime someone compares school days to true tears ,Ai comes to mind and I must say I haven't seen a girl assaulting a guy in anime before aside from school days and KGNE- Ai=Sekai ,she's in the same category as sekai and Mitsuki from Kimi ga nozmu eien.Don't get me wrong though ,I felt really bad for her cuz she was one twisted bitch and never stood a chane against the greatness of Hiromi and the cuteness of Noe and thier fans .Some even compare her to sakai ..If this anime was overrated ,Ai wouid make it into the most hated girl's list ..

You dropped shuffle ?you shouid've caried on with it at least till ep 19 and 20 ,Keade turned the show into tragedy with her desperte moves on Rin T T..

I think the reason why opinions about School Days are so polarized is more like a question about how much the violence and sex interfered on the drama. For me, this made the plot go into a fu**fest, which overshadowed the drama and made the characters unlikeable. For people who actually liked School Days, this all made the show more realistic, making it worth the watch.

Since i liked True Tears and loved KGNE, what really made my personal scores for these shows so different (TT: 8/10. KGNE: 9/10. SD: 1/10) was how the drama was presented / executed. I was imersed into the problems almost all the time. In True Tears, i was impressed by the deep characterization of the two main girls (Ai doesn't count as a main, IMO. I think she was very underdeveloped compared to those two) and how the supporting characters contribuited to enrich the drama. KGNE was pretty much about a very hard situation, which lead to a strong moral decision, strong and well presented enough to make an awesome anime.

Also, i agree with you on the similarity of some characters. This is particularly interesting because different takes on those characters made each series appeal (or the lack of) very different for me.

ps: actually, i have a friend who told me about Kaede. And i think i wouldn't like to watch that side of her.

School Days was painful to watch, but it was the kind of painful like cauterizing a wound to clear infection. A beneficial kind of pain. Strange thing, that. Most of the characters acted so stupidly, perhaps even more than they would IRL..and you still could like them, just like real people.

Makoto, Sekai and Kotonoha are ALL to blame, but all three for different reasons!!
Makoto just went with the flow and ended up getting into every sort of messed up situation imaginable.
Sekai should have been honest in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end, and that honesty violently overflows when it finally comes out.
Kotonoha was frigid, over-timid, fundamentally unsure, and thus was overshadowed by Sekai, and this overstressed fragility easily led to insanity.

Setsuna was the most balanced one and managed to escape with minimal damage.

Wow now that I wrote that, it all seems pretty harsh ^-^.

What I'm trying to say is the show can make you think about circumstances and psychology, but it doesn't have that tear-jerking quality, like perhaps Honey and Clover, or a number of other shows.

School Days was painful to watch, but it was the kind of painful like cauterizing a wound to clear infection. A beneficial kind of pain. Strange thing, that. Most of the characters acted so stupidly, perhaps even more than they would IRL..and you still could like them, just like real people.

Makoto, Sekai and Kotonoha are ALL to blame, but all three for different reasons!!
Makoto just went with the flow and ended up getting into every sort of messed up situation imaginable.
Sekai should have been honest in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end, and that honesty violently overflows when it finally comes out.
Kotonoha was frigid, over-timid, fundamentally unsure, and thus was overshadowed by Sekai, and this overstressed fragility easily led to insanity.

Setsuna was the most balanced one and managed to escape with minimal damage.

Wow now that I wrote that, it all seems pretty harsh ^-^.

What I'm trying to say is the show can make you think about circumstances and psychology, but it doesn't have that tear-jerking quality, like perhaps Honey and Clover, or a number of other shows.

I agree with all on what you said cept for the liking part ,to many people the character's were not likable at all but I couid feel for them as well ,Sekai was a victim of love ,Mokoto was a victim of lust and Katanoha was a victim of Circumstances

But too many ppl ,the character's were not likable ,I just couidn't stand Mokoto but I felt for him .

Well, in my opinion, it's pretty reasonable to cry about how bad it was.

It started out very promissing, and i had my hopes up for a great drama. Shortly after episode 1, School Days tried to do something beyond it's reach: it could have stayed as a simple, yet depressing drama about a girl's first love, which was an almost guaranteed successful formula (especially considering that the first episode did an awesome job setting that up), but that's not what happened.

The drama slowly changed to tragedy, and Kotonoha developed into a yandere. Since the characters are not likeable (i personally think that part of all that happened was also Kononoha's fault, so it's not like she was totally a victim), and the series was not directed properly, it was very disappointing. Instead of feeling depressed, i felt anger.

It does not help that i watched Ef - a Tale of Memories just before starting School Days (compare, for example, both drama scenes with the cellphone). If you want School Days done in the right way, watch True Tears.

tl;dr
- Episode 1 was very good, then it went downhill.
- The characters were unlikeable.
- The development went in the wrong way.
- Ef - a Tale of Memories did some similar scenes much better.
- True Tears is what School Days could have become if done in the right way.

I agree with this ..

True Tears was a sad show if you ask me but why did you mention true tears out of all the anime's instaed of lets' shuffle ?I only got school days vibes when Ai-chan did that freaky move on Shin .. that was the only school days part for me ..lolll

Ah, it's because i think School Days had potential to be great if it wasn't for all the crazyness that dragged it down. True Tears was for me a good example of how to develop good drama without going overboard (though, like you said, it ALMOST went that way in some parts).

Shuffle! didn't catch my interest for long, so i dropped on episode 12 of the first series. If it's about yanderes, my current favorite is THAT ONE side character in Shigofumi.

In my opinion School days was a good/heavy drama(one of my favourites ) and I must say not everyone is going to like it unless your a fan of those heavy drama shows like KGNE and school days..I agree with you that it went way too far (like the whole blood scene on the floor while raping katanoha)and it was way too preverted on the kissing parts .Not that I have a problem with this but it was too much in my opinion .The characters were all so shameful ,desperate sex addicts .I agree katanoha did this to herself though ..poor Sekai ...

As for true tears -one crazy girl ,one emo girl ,one desperate girl ,what more can you ask for ?It was a good show with realsitic character's .I felt sad for all three girls because of thier situation's .Shin had a hard situation because those three girl were emotionly troubled (includin Ai )and I loved his choice at the end .Some ppl said that true tears is not tragic but I think it's a bit tragic .

Everytime someone compares school days to true tears ,Ai comes to mind and I must say I haven't seen a girl assaulting a guy in anime before aside from school days and KGNE- Ai=Sekai ,she's in the same category as sekai and Mitsuki from Kimi ga nozmu eien.Don't get me wrong though ,I felt really bad for her cuz she was one twisted bitch and never stood a chane against the greatness of Hiromi and the cuteness of Noe and thier fans .Some even compare her to sakai ..If this anime was overrated ,Ai wouid make it into the most hated girl's list ..

You dropped shuffle ?you shouid've caried on with it at least till ep 19 and 20 ,Keade turned the show into tragedy with her desperte moves on Rin T T..

I think the reason why opinions about School Days are so polarized is more like a question about how much the violence and sex interfered on the drama. For me, this made the plot go into a fu**fest, which overshadowed the drama and made the characters unlikeable. For people who actually liked School Days, this all made the show more realistic, making it worth the watch.

Since i liked True Tears and loved KGNE, what really made my personal scores for these shows so different (TT: 8/10. KGNE: 9/10. SD: 1/10) was how the drama was presented / executed. I was imersed into the problems almost all the time. In True Tears, i was impressed by the deep characterization of the two main girls (Ai doesn't count as a main, IMO. I think she was very underdeveloped compared to those two) and how the supporting characters contribuited to enrich the drama. KGNE was pretty much about a very hard situation, which lead to a strong moral decision, strong and well presented enough to make an awesome anime.

Also, i agree with you on the similarity of some characters. This is particularly interesting because different takes on those characters made each series appeal (or the lack of) very different for me.

ps: actually, i have a friend who told me about Kaede. And i think i wouldn't like to watch that side of her.

Very true on the polarizing part ,It's true that the writer's failed on making us feel for the character's but it made the show more realistic .The whole sex,violence ,perversions was actually needed for the story .I think that the writer had an idea that he wanted to show the fans 'a moral lesson' ..if you don't have a problem with these sceneS 'blood ,extreme sex 'then you wouldn't have a problem with this show but some ppl just can't handle watching these things .And I admit that I kinda felt dirty while watching this .. ..
.
In true tears,I thought that the characterization was superb for the four main character's as well(Shin,Hiromi,Noe and jun) .

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

I disagree with you on Ai because I don't think that she was a main character though.She was pretty much a deep side character to me though less than Hiromi and Noe and I agree she was not developed as much as them and you know why -because Ai was used as a symbolic placement in this show though many ppl failed to understand her purpose ,her less screen time play was also intentional ,Ai had so many internal conflicts/guilt's as well .she was the most realistic person in that show because if you focus on her very small side story ,you would noticed that she made the most mistakes and she was not just there to make this show a harem show and increase the fan base like what ppl gave her credit for .Ai was there to lose and face harsh reality and pay the price for her sins ..lol ,I don't see why ppl count her out ,the end is Hiromi ,Noe is the girl with the tears she lost and Ai was the one with the ill-fate. Her theme was 'moving on from you first love because it's unhealthy ' It's true that Hiromi and Noe were deep character's with tragic background stories but Ai's love for Shin was very destructive(full of self-loathing) and based on her fantasies .True Tears is not a harem show and it was never like that .The reason why most of you count her out is cuz she never stood a chance which made her easily neglected by the fans of this show but the whole losing was necessary for her story ,for her to move on and find true love and I think that that the writers did an amazing job on portraying her as a character .She was just a side character after all and for them to give her more development maybe asking a bit too much in my opinion simply because of how the story was written .In other words Ai was used to give this show a sense of realism and without her ,we wouldn't have a realistically portrayed female in this Show .The whole story is about Shin's heart wavering between Noe and Hiromi and Ai was simply not part of it but the writer's used the destiny card with her ..We could see this as her struggle to be like Hiromi and Noe in terms of complexity and character which itself is something deep ,I've read an interview with the writer and he said that he wrote Ai as this dark girl who wanted to try it more and so she became stronger and stronger(more selfish) because she wanted to fit in with the other girls but she was also fighting many obstacles and conflicts with her feelings like what her voice actress said .I'm not saying that the other characters are not realistic but Ai's situation was something you could defiantly see in the real world because she never stood a chance .I myself didn't think she was deep at first like you but after I re-watched this then I knew these facts. There's actually so much to her than just a third harem girl with no purpose and that 's why I believe the writing for true tears was superb for both main characters and side characters..but then again this is just my opinion based on what I saw and they are so many ppl like yourself who thinks she was pointless which is a pity really ..Ai was ambiguous/dark character because she was not deeply delve into like Hiromi or Noe and instead left for the fans to analyze..She got shafted a ton in this anime in terms of character screen time and fate but it was intentional by the writer –he wanted to screw Ai's character and destroy her chances-so he can focus on the two main girls instead which is if you ask me a harsh way to present and treat a character ..I think it was the easiest way to make their third heroine special –she was more of a symbolic heroine rather than a normal/hermetic candidate..10/10 for the writer's.. I find it strange that I can write this much on Ai even though she wasn't giving much screen time play but it proves that she is a deep character in her own way

..
Btw ,which supporting characters are you talking a bout ? lolll,this is so off topic and that's why I made the spolier .. ..

KGNE was a great heavy drama (I agree )a story about a group of adults screwed by destiny .What makes this anime outstanding is that the characters are all mature /adults and not like you childish/high school character's and some of these character's (Mitsuki)made this show the most dramatic one of all time's .I never hated taka and Mitsuki because I couid feel for both of them and it's just sad that some ppl compare him to mokoto ..

I deem Keade ,Mitsuki ,Sekia and sakura from Da capo to be one of the most tragic anime character's of all time ,Keade was insane although less than Katanoha but her plot was heartbreaking and it made Shuffle go down on my top 10 list ...

Very true on the polarizing part ,It's true that the writer's failed on making us feel for the character's but it made the show more realistic .The whole sex,violence ,perversions was actually needed for the story .I think that the writer had an idea that he wanted to show the fans 'a moral lesson' ..if you don't have a problem with these sceneS 'blood ,extreme sex 'then you wouldn't have a problem with this show but some ppl just can't handle watching these things .And I admit that I kinda felt dirty while watching this .

I disagree with you on Ai because I don't think that she was a main character though.She was pretty much a deep side character to me though less than Hiromi and Noe and I agree she was not developed as much as them and you know why -because Ai was used as a symbolic placement in this show though many ppl failed to understand her purpose ,her less screen time play was also intentional ,Ai had so many internal conflicts/guilt's as well .she was the most realistic person in that show because if you focus on her very small side story ,you would noticed that she made the most mistakes and she was not just there to make this show a harem show and increase the fan base like what ppl gave her credit for .Ai was there to lose and face harsh reality and pay the price for her sins ..lol ,I don't see why ppl count her out ,the end is Hiromi ,Noe is the girl with the tears she lost and Ai was the one with the ill-fate. Her theme was 'moving on from you first love because it's unhealthy ' It's true that Hiromi and Noe were deep character's with tragic background stories but Ai's love for Shin was very destructive(full of self-loathing) and based on her fantasies .True Tears is not a harem show and it was never like that .The reason why most of you count her out is cuz she never stood a chance which made her easily neglected by the fans of this show but the whole losing was necessary for her story ,for her to move on and find true love and I think that that the writers did an amazing job on portraying her as a character .She was just a side character after all and for them to give her more development maybe asking a bit too much in my opinion simply because of how the story was written .In other words Ai was used to give this show a sense of realism and without her ,we wouldn't have a realistically portrayed female in this Show .The whole story is about Shin's heart wavering between Noe and Hiromi and Ai was simply not part of it but the writer's used the destiny card with her ..We could see this as her struggle to be like Hiromi and Noe in terms of complexity and character which itself is something deep ,I've read an interview with the writer and he said that he wrote Ai as this dark girl who wanted to try it more and so she became stronger and stronger(more selfish) because she wanted to fit in with the other girls but she was also fighting many obstacles and conflicts with her feelings like what her voice actress said .I'm not saying that the other characters are not realistic but Ai's situation was something you could defiantly see in the real world because she never stood a chance .I myself didn't think she was deep at first like you but after I re-watched this then I knew these facts. There's actually so much to her than just a third harem girl with no purpose and that 's why I believe the writing for true tears was superb for both main characters and side characters..but then again this is just my opinion based on what I saw and they are so many ppl like yourself who thinks she was pointless which is a pity really ..Ai was ambiguous/dark character because she was not deeply delve into like Hiromi or Noe and instead left for the fans to analyze..She got shafted a ton in this anime in terms of character screen time and fate but it was intentional by the writer –he wanted to screw Ai's character and destroy her chances-so he can focus on the two main girls instead which is if you ask me a harsh way to present and treat a character ..I think it was the easiest way to make their third heroine special –she was more of a symbolic heroine rather than a normal/hermetic candidate..10/10 for the writer's.. I find it strange that I can write this much on Ai even though she wasn't giving much screen time play but it proves that she is a deep character in her own way

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

Like you said on many parts of this post, Ai is pretty much a standalone character. Her "internal conflicts", "side story", "self-loathing" and "her fantasies". Unlike Hiromi and Noe, who heavily influenced the people around them, Ai had her problems mainly only to herself.

What i am trying to say is: she was underdeveloped as a main character exactly because her problems are the type of drama that requires the character to fail against the "spotlights".

Ai was overshadowed by the other two. And while this contributes heavily for her characterization (as explained in this post, i consider her underdeveloped as a main; i didn't say she was a shallow character), that makes her a side character.

I disagree about her being the only realistic character. In my opinion, is more about how much realistic each of them are, Ai being the most realistic; Noe the least.

I deem Keade ,Mitsuki ,Sekia and sakura from Da capo to be one of the most tragic anime character's of all time ,Keade was insane although less than Katanoha but her plot was heartbreaking and it made Shuffle go down on my top 10 list ...

I see...

It seems that your taste is more open-minded towards tragedy, whereas mine is more strict.

I agree with all on what you said cept for the liking part ,to many people the character's were not likable at all but I couid feel for them as well ,Sekai was a victim of love ,Mokoto was a victim of lust and Katanoha was a victim of Circumstances

But too many ppl ,the character's were not likable ,I just couidn't stand Mokoto but I felt for him .

School days is the most heart-jerking anime to me ..

Yeah, good points, that makes sense.

Its pretty hard to like Makoto, he is the personification of JERK,
just like Kotonoha was a personification of ASEXUAL. LOL.

I agree that this show was heart wrenching and kept me awake a bit during the final episodes.
I really appreciate stuff like that, art that shakes a person out of their own circumstances,
like the entirety of Death Note, the latter half of Evangelion, the epic parts of Gurren Lagaan,
2001, or twists and turns of inference and mythology like in Utena.

I guess the sad part about School Days was how stuff like this really happens,
and it is usually mainly a case of circumstances.
Like people I've known that went crazy or committed suicide, or both.
If things had been just a TINY bit different, who knows?

I was discouraged when I found out that this anime was based on a game,
because it meant that although the ending was premeditated,
it was also somewhat contrived, rather than being the genuine aim of the whole project (in its anime form).

Like you said on many parts of this post, Ai is pretty much a standalone character. Her "internal conflicts", "side story", "self-loathing" and "her fantasies". Unlike Hiromi and Noe, who heavily influenced the people around them, Ai had her problems mainly only to herself.

What i am trying to say is: she was underdeveloped as a main character exactly because her problems are the type of drama that requires the character to fail against the "spotlights".

Ai was overshadowed by the other two. And while this contributes heavily for her characterization (as explained in this post, i consider her underdeveloped as a main; i didn't say she was a shallow character), that makes her a side character.

I disagree about her being the only realistic character. In my opinion, is more about how much realistic each of them are, Ai being the most realistic; Noe the least.

.

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

But Ai was never meant to be developed as a main character anyway ,you can put her in the middle as she was trying her best to be a main but she failed because like you said her drama requires the person to fail against the spotlight .She was there to lose and let the other girls be winners ..

Exactly you've read my mind ,Ai was structured by the writer to be a loser/failure In this show and her character was used as a sacrifice for the sake of Hiromi's and Noe's time which is a gain a harsh/nasty way to write a character ..

As for her influence in the story ,I disagree with you on the fact that Ai didn't influence ppl (mainly the viewers ).In fact her story was a moral lesson' don't go with someone you don't like because of you crush' not just for us but for Shin as well and it was the closest to girls who age in real life .I was influenced by her as much as Hiromi and Noe ,even more because her story was very realistic in comparison to Hiromi and Noe ,most ppl can actually relate to her the most …Her story would BE good for all the demoralized girls since Ai lost her morals and pride for Shin (not literally speaking though )

Also her development was pretty clear as a side character, it's not like she was ttly undeveloped ,her screen time play was enough for her story ,she like the other character's had many conflicts (she's was a bit more deeper than Nobuse because of her many conflicts) and she was given the time to fall into depression because of her feelings as well ..
And no I didn't say she was the only realistic, I said she was the most realistic character in this whole show …

someone at animsuki said this-

I'm going to start off with the premise that the writers intended for us to really understand 6 characters: Shin, Noe, Hiromi, Jun, Aiko and Nobuse. I think of these six, they wanted us to take the group of Shin, Noe, Hiromi, and Jun as being the most "unrealistic" at the start in that they were caught up in webs of lies and falsehoods that were keeping them far more chained than most "real people" and indeed more like a fictional drama.On the other hand, Aiko and Nobuse were meant to be caught up in the most "realistic" web of lies in that their relationship to the other 4 was pretty much something you could easily see in the "real world".
I'd go one step further to argue that not having Aiko (or Nobuse) present would cripple the show's relativity to real life because those two tie the other characters to a sense of realism in the same way that the execution ties the rest of the show to a realistic portrayal.

I don't really think she is that normal though ,she was self-destructive and disturbed as the rest of them really..going after some one you know you don't have a chance with is a disease

Lol,one of the most flawed third Harem girl I've seen in anime before ..She screwed a lot, ,she lied to both guys ,used Nobuse ,went on dates behind his back, black mailed, assaulted (molested Shin),She was written by the writer to be the most flawed girl in the show .I find it funny that some ppl say Hiromi is a bitch when she hasn't done anything bitchy ,Ai was the one making all the wrong choices all the time ,in fact she was the one who was close to a bitch because of her many mistakes though I can understand and sympathize with her as well ,making these mistakes was due to her self-loathing and thinking so badly of herself ,she always believed that she was not as good as Hiromi or even Noe,…Hiromi made some bad choices (agree)but she lied for the right reasons while Ai lied for the wrong reasons and that's the different between Hiromi and Ai ..

I pity her a lot (maybe even more than Hiromi and Noe )simply because of the way she was written by the writer-she was made a failure EVEN if she was not dating the other guy ,she's made so many mistakes to win anyways .Her ending was also artificial happy because let's face it ,they are not many guys like Nobuse who would forgive girls like Ai in real life ..the writer gave her a happy ending only to give the fans this happy feeling ..I've read somewhere that it was required for them to give Ai this ahppy ending which is not really the truth when you think a bout it

Ai was stupid and foolish and her fate was not so kind as her character was shafted by the writer himself becuase it was needed for her drama ,she was kinda of a sad character to me because I always feel for those who make so many mistakes and get punished because of love ..

what do you mean by she 'had her problems only to herself ' ?are you taiking a bout her innerself ?

do you think she was made as a bad guy ?

there a drama CD for the show and Ai has a nice story and she get so much depth in it ..

I agree with all on what you said cept for the liking part ,to many people the character's were not likable at all but I couid feel for them as well ,Sekai was a victim of love ,Mokoto was a victim of lust and Katanoha was a victim of Circumstances

But too many ppl ,the character's were not likable ,I just couidn't stand Mokoto but I felt for him .

School days is the most heart-jerking anime to me ..

Yeah, good points, that makes sense.

Its pretty hard to like Makoto, he is the personification of JERK,
just like Kotonoha was a personification of ASEXUAL. LOL.

I agree that this show was heart wrenching and kept me awake a bit during the final episodes.
I really appreciate stuff like that, art that shakes a person out of their own circumstances,
like the entirety of Death Note, the latter half of Evangelion, the epic parts of Gurren Lagaan,
2001, or twists and turns of inference and mythology like in Utena.

I guess the sad part about School Days was how stuff like this really happens,
and it is usually mainly a case of circumstances.
Like people I've known that went crazy or committed suicide, or both.
If things had been just a TINY bit different, who knows?

I was discouraged when I found out that this anime was based on a game,
because it meant that although the ending was premeditated,
it was also somewhat contrived, rather than being the genuine aim of the whole project (in its anime form).

Very true ,it's heart-wrenching because it makes you think about life but I also think that it's kind of unrealistic in a way .It's true that these things happen in life and the fact that they are people like that in real life makes it the more heartbreaking ..

Love is not always a good thing but you also blame the people for it and not just love ..Love can be a good thing if you make it that way and this was not the case in school days ..

It's also true how ppl these days commit suicide..

All the anime's you've mentioned are truly great like Death note and Utena ..

As for school days-I didn't want to pick this anime at first because of the fact that the anime was based of a hentai-game and I'm not a fan of those but the anime it self was reduced to ecchie ..

I thought that school days was a bit overdone though but it was needed for the heavy drama, everything about it was very realistic ..

Many ppl hated this as it was a reflection of what really happens in real life, the problem is that most people like 'perfection' .And that's why it was diffcult to watch this show because it was close to reality ..

I thought that this show was going a normal/romance show but it changed into tragedy and the character's were relying on sex too much ,it's like it was part of thier daily life and that's why I think it somewhat unrealistic ,you don't see parents ,police and teacher's in school days .These character's were a living a free /open /unlimited sex life .I do think it happens in real life but not like in school days .In many contries 'especially ' the middle east ,they don't allow such things which I think is good .These character's crossed the line with thier action's ..I'm not sayin that you can't have sex .I'm just saying that you don't do that for fun like Mokoto..

I'm also sure that these things do happen in japan but not like in school days ..

All the character's in school days got what they deserved in my opinion ,Sekai ,mokoto and Katanoha can no longer be accepted as part of society ..

I thought that true tears was pretty realistic even though it had a happy ending and it's not like school days but the character's were deep ..

Either I just have a different taste for things or something is wrong with me because School Days is one of
my favorite animes. I liked the twist the ending had, it was very different compared to others I had seen
(though that isn't many compared to more avid anime watchers). It was the first time I'd seen what started
as a romance school life anime end so badly in a way that left me thinking about it for days, even after I
had finished watching it. So to say it left a big impression on me.

Though I'm not sure exactly what there is to cry about school days, but I did cry when Sekai killed Makoto.
Actually I cried alot. Based on the music, which had a very melancholic sadness to it and also expressed
the situation well, and the actions that had let up to the scene. I felt so bad for Kotonoha, Sekai, Makoto,
and all the other characters involved, the mistakes they had made that couldn't be undone and what
happened as a result of bad choices made from these characters, however mostly from Sekai and
Makoto I felt that this may have been avoided if Sekai had been truthful with her feelings instead of using
Kotonoha to get to Makoto, setting the path to all the misery the characters would face.

I do think the only thing that may not have been avoidable was Makoto's horniness, how he couldn't say no
when a girl threw themselves at him and all the other girls who liked him. So if Makoto and Kotonoha had
somehow managed to get together, without Sekai, Makoto would had still made moves on Kotonoha that
she wasn't ready for. The relationship would have gotten rocky by then and the more assertive girls who
liked him would have gone to him like Sekai had. But I stand by the thought that Makoto didn't deserve
death as attribute to all his wrongdoings, neither did Sekai. Though these two were really selfish and
only acted on their desires without considering the others and the consequences.